Walgreens

America's biggest pharmacy chains are closing hundreds of stores, laying off thousands of workers and rethinking their role in our lives.

Walgreens says about a quarter of its stores are unprofitable. Big pharmacy chains are struggling with growing retail competition and lower prescription payouts.

CVS will start filling prescriptions for mifepristone in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Walgreens will start in New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, California and Illinois.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said that the state would halt business with Walgreens after the pharmacy giant agreed to stop distributing mifepristone in some red states amid legal pressure.

The 20 states where Walgreens won't sell mifepristone include some where abortion remains legal. It's not clear whether other retail pharmacies will follow suit.

It could amount to the last round of huge settlements after years of litigation over the industry's role in an overdose crisis linked to more than 500,000 deaths in the U.S. over the past two decades.

Tuesday's verdict comes as CVS, Walgreens and Walmart face thousands of lawsuits filed by communities across the U.S. The companies say they did nothing wrong dispensing huge quantities of opioids.

The federal government is offering nursing homes the chance to opt in to the new program, in which pharmacy staff would deliver and administer a future vaccine on site.

State Attorney General Pam Bondi's office announced Friday that it had added the drugstore chains to a lawsuit filed in May against opioid distributors and manufacturers.

Walgreens was Theranos' largest revenue source. It cited problems that federal regulators have had with Theranos' lab testing in deciding to end the relationship.